Maharashtra MLA Rohit Pawar on Sunday claimed that the number of voters whose names could be deleted from the electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise may rise from the current 2.07 crore to nearly 3 crore, alleging irregularities in the verification process.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleged that electoral powers previously exercised at the constituency level had been centralised with the Election Commission, allowing voter names to be added or deleted from Delhi.
Pawar also alleged that booth-level officers (BLOs) in some areas conducted “table surveys” instead of physically verifying voters, with information being supplied by BJP workers. He claimed such instances had been reported in Pune, Nashik and Thane, and questioned why no action had been taken despite complaints to election officials.
“Out of the 1.22 crore under scrutiny, some people will definitely be disqualified, and the figure of 2.07 crore deleted voters could increase further and may even reach 3 crore,” Pawar said.
According to official data cited by Pawar, Maharashtra has 9.78 crore registered voters, while enumeration forms for 2.07 crore voters remained uncollected during the SIR exercise. He said officials had attributed such cases to voters being deceased, untraceable, permanently shifted or having duplicate entries.
Pawar expressed concern over the large number of excluded or unverified voters and claimed that many of the 1.22 crore voters whose records are under scrutiny could eventually be left out of the electoral rolls.
He also alleged that errors remained in voter records even after the SIR process, citing instances where living people were shown as deceased and where photographs and gender details did not correspond with voter records.
Pawar claimed that the verification process had been centralised, with decisions regarding voter records being taken through a system based in Delhi.
He said he had submitted evidence and suggestions to Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam to establish whether physical verification had actually been conducted for some voters in his Karjat-Jamkhed constituency.
Pawar further claimed that the ongoing SIR exercise, along with delimitation, could pose a threat to the Constitution and democracy. He appealed to Opposition parties, social organisations and citizens to come together to protect voting rights and reservations.
“What is happening is extremely dangerous for the Constitution and democracy. If delimitation and SIR are brought together, the BJP may feel that it can somehow win in 2029. Whether people exist or not would not matter. I feel we are moving towards Russia,” he said.
Pawar also alleged that 40-50 lakh voters had been added to Maharashtra’s electoral rolls between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections through Form 6, and claimed that a similar exercise could be repeated.
He said the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest should not be restricted to seeking the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, but should also call for the removal of EVMs and greater transparency and technological safeguards in the electoral process.
“If the agitation is against Gyanesh Kumar, for removing EVMs and for replacing the present process with a transparent one, then as a citizen I see no problem in giving support to such an agitation,” he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
